Even if you don’t know Robert Lopuski’s name, you might recognize his work. Responsible for Jay Z and Kanye West’s grandiose Watch The Throne documentary as well as a popular doc on New York hip-hop called We’re Gonna Be Lords, the director/editor has developed a cinematic style that breathes a weight of importance and intrigue into life’s simplest moments.

His latest feat involves giving new life to Melana Cadiz’s 2010 song, “Sleeping.” Placing Cadiz’s vocals and gentle guitar plucking in a haunting wooded setting alongside rumbling sound effects, the song takes on an edge that wasn’t apparent on first listen. Here, it becomes the soundtrack to an eerie encounter with exploding trees, wild hair, and mysterious visitors. Fittingly, the video’s concept was born out of a piece he had originally developed for a pitch to Bjork.

“The song ‘Sleeping’ had a nice linger to it and felt wide open allowing me to have room to play with visually,” he says of his decision to work on the project. “I was doing a lot of research on Norse mythology at the time when I came up with the idea for the earth rituals. I also kept having a dream of a girl swinging from her hair and it all just kinda came together. That summer I spent time in Montana with a number of older ranchers and found their attachment and understanding of the land very curious.”-- P&P